Bistro 321 Villa Le Bec – one of those Shanghai restaurants so Gallic that it makes you say 'Are they so sure it's the former French Concession? (To clarify, it is. It really, most definitely is.)
Place is set in an old Shanghai villa with a courtyard terrace, big old garden out the back, dense pots of foie gras mi-cuit on the menu, and eponymous proprietor Nicolas Le Bec working the fry station himself every day because he's too much of a perfectionist to leave it to someone else.
In another life Le Bec was a two Michelin star chef back in Lyon, France – an accolade that been denied of him in the subsequent Shanghai editions of the guide. Not one to dwell, Le Bec's made a move to expand on his success and opened a second concept: Épicerie 62 Le Bec.
The front part is an affordable French bodega-cum-café, where you could very well go and eat lunch every day if you were lucky enough to live in the area. They sell croissants (just RMB15), rustic French bread, patisserie, dessert pots, brioche, imported dry goods, Haribo gummy bears (bizarrely), salad and at present, two types of sandwiches.
One is a croque monsieur rond saumon fumé (with smoked salmon), the other rond jambon (ham), the other. It might look like a grilled cheese, but this piece is a béchamel explosion once it makes its way into your mouth. It's RMB30 – an excellent calorie to kuai conversion rate if you ask us.
Venture into the back room to where Le Bec’s passion for his country’s wine becomes abundantly clear. The moodily-lit room contains cabinet after cabinet filled with bottles hailing from all over France, in what we suspect could be the city’s largest collection of exclusively French wine in one place.
The bar might look like an underground wine cellar, but the concept continues the bodega mission. Customers are allowed to peruse and take their selected bottle for themselves, all the more attractive since they’re priced at retail.
This is dampened when they add on an opening fee for drinking it in the bar (RMB100 for a 750ml bottle), but the pricing still feels competitive compared to what other places charge for French wine.
In honesty, the term 'good value French wine' is almost always an oyxmoron in China, since importation taxes can amount to 48.2 percent of its value, plus additional margins from the wine's importer and distributors. On top of this, a local perception of French wines being superior over all others has also driven up demand and is reflected in the final price you pay.
Nevertheless, bottles here start from an agreeable RMB180, with the cabinets conveniently organized by price increments.
We suspect that all but the most knowledgeable enthusiasts will find Épicerie’s selection overwhelming, and as such, next time we'll be ordering from the small bar menu first and then asking the manager for a recommendation to match the food. Don’t make the mistake we made of drinking light-bodied Cabernet Franc alongside a strong cheese and charcuterie platter (RMB200).
Certainly you can have an affordable, and certainly enjoyable evening here, but just like at its sister restaurant, you’d better make sure indulgence doesn’t get the better of you.
By day, recommended for quick lunches and patisserie indulgence, by night, an enigmatic venue to take a hot date who likes drinking. The winsom French clientele that already frequent the place don't hurt, either.
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